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kissingghouls · 2 years ago

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The King

Part One: The Crush (ao3) vampireSecondo x fem Reader // Papa Emeritus II x fem Reader

Summary: You thought accounting would lead to a boring life. Then you started working for Mr. Emeritus.

tags: NSFW, MDNI, 18+, horror themes, vampire violence, (eventual) smut, blood, more tags on ao3, 7k words

Part Two in the Suck Club Series. Read Part One - The Count here

Part One: The Crush

When you live somewhere long enough, you become blind to the little quirks of a place. Eventually, you start to ignore the bad news to maintain your own sanity. It wasn’t like the city was overrun with crime or anything, but the missing posters were an uncomfortable constant decoration on utility poles and shop windows. You kept pepper spray on your keychain and looked over your shoulder in the dark just like anyone else would, but you never truly felt unsafe.

And if you did, Idolatry was a fortress you could run to.

It wasn’t exactly the kind of place in which you imagined yourself working. All that black glass and neon light with the constant thrum of loud music and even louder patrons absolutely losing their minds over topless women wasn’t really your scene. But you had bills to pay just like everyone else. When Mr. Emeritus’s assistant, Mary Goore, fired off that email asking about your financial services, you were all too happy to give them a quote. When you saw the salary Mr. Emeritus offered you in return, you had to sit down.

Once you saw the state of things, you understood the numbers. The last accountant had mysteriously disappeared, but unlike the others in the city, he had done so after skimming millions of dollars from the club. He made sure to trash years’ worth of records while trying poorly to cover his tracks, leaving the accounts in a pitiful state for you to clean up. You hoped wherever he was, he was getting sand in his margaritas.

Still, Idolatry was turning a substantial profit and it wasn’t hard to see why. An exclusive, members only Gentlemen’s Club with dues as high as they were had to deliver on everything. And Mr. Emeritus spared no expense when it came to the expectations of his guests. He didn’t hold back when it came to his employees either—you’d seen the payroll.

Mr. Emeritus also didn’t seem to deny himself, dressing exclusively in suits that were tailored to his tall frame with coordinating shoes and expensive watches. He was big, not only physically, but his presence commanded attention every time he entered a room. It was alarming at first, how this well-dressed man could take the air out a space without even trying. You had credited it to the black and white face paint he always wore, the skull shaped mask that failed to disguise his expressions. The harsh lines of it made him appear stoic and serious, no matter the situation, but the longer you were employed the less noticeable the paint became. It was a part of him he put on, like those plush green velvet blazers he loved, but it wasn’t the only thing he was. You suspected without the mask people would still stop and notice him.

And you, you couldn’t help but notice him. He wasn’t the type of man who usually caught your eye—that honor was mainly reserved for scrawny dudes in bands who needed someone to take care of them and pay their rent. A miserable list of complete losers who drained your patience and, thanks to the last asshole, your bank accounts. Mr. Emeritus didn’t need to be reminded to shower and he’d never steal your car to cheat on you with some girl in Florida.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t have his own quirks and faults. There were times you’d seen him in the middle of some impossible feat, like moving full kegs on his own, acts that when caught prompted Mary to nudge him and point out that you were there. Secondo never seemed to pay much attention to the warnings, carrying on with whatever he was doing. It was clear he was strong, probably stronger than you thought, but he also had an odd way of addressing things. When word got around you had just been through a particularly nasty break up, he stopped by your office and casually offered to kill your ex. You laughed nervously at the joke, but he’d delivered it so flatly you almost thought he wasn’t kidding.

Your boss was a little strange, sure, but so was everyone else in the city. If the man wanted to paint a skull on his face every day, who were you to judge? That certainly wasn’t what he was paying you for. You started to like the intimidating air surrounding him and how his gaze often matched his nature, as though he was never solving only one problem at a time. You quickly learned his wit was as sharp as his suits, but he tended to remain soft-spoken while the two of you slowly got to know each other.

Over time you learned he didn’t like to show it, but he cared deeply for the people who worked for him. He’d affectionately named the dancers “the Dolls” and made sure they wanted for nothing while they worked for him. In return, they all called him Bone Daddy, partially in reference to his odd makeup, but mostly because of his constant need to make sure they were all ok. As far as you could tell he wasn’t actually a Daddy to any of them in a sexual or relationship sense. He always arrived and left alone, never spending much time with anyone, not even Mary. None of the Dolls had ever seen his home.

You found it easy to settle in when you started, making fast friends with the Dolls and the bartenders. You mostly saw them in passing, everyone arriving for their shifts by the time you left until you began to realize it was almost impossible to reach Mr. Emeritus during the day. It made sense for him to keep the same odd hours as everyone else, but the state of his finances left you with questions only he could answer. Eventually, you found it easier to shift your own hours to match everyone else in the hopes that you could finally catch him and get the information you needed.

That led to those tiny little moments where you began to hope you’d see him.

A lifetime (or more accurately several lifetimes) living amongst humans, blending seamlessly into their limited little world had made Secondo blind to their odd intricacies. Still, he largely found the people around him endearing and he much preferred this life to the endless solitude his brothers had chosen. Though he guessed Copia had someone now at least. And maybe the Countess could drag his old, dramatic cape-wearing ass into the 21st century.

Secondo had grown used to being surrounded by beautiful, half-naked women. It was a necessary part of the job, to the point he no longer noticed if one of the Dolls was topless while talking to him. It was out of respect, more than anything. The Dolls were people, good people with big hearts and families of their own. Just like with his own brothers, he felt a need to protect the girls from the nasty things in the world, even if it meant he had to become one.

So, when you breezed in wearing jeans and a t-shirt for the first time, his mind went completely blank. It was such a stark contrast to the stuffy 9-to-5 business causal uniform you’d worn in the past. But now you were comfortable enough to dress a little more like yourself, to relax a little. You were still all business of course, asking him something he’d completely missed while you waited for an answer with your hands on your hips.

“Sorry?” he asked, blinking up at you from his desk in a daze.

“The 1099s? Where are your 1099s?” you asked with a nervous smile.

“Oh.” He gestured vaguely to the banged-up filing cabinet in the corner of the office.

You huffed at him, shooting an annoyed glance over your shoulder as you turned away. He pretended not to see the soft smile that graced your face when you thought he wasn’t looking. He couldn’t help but wonder what you looked like when you woke up next to a lover, messy hair and half-smiles hidden behind a pillow or pressed into a bare shoulder. Maybe someday his shoulder. But that would be ridiculous because a delicate little thing like you would be ruined if you got too close to someone him.

It didn’t stop him from noticing things about you, slowly at first as you settled into your role at the club. It wasn’t that you were a messy person. You kept your office in an order that made sense to you, but your desk was often cluttered at the edges with to-go coffees or cheap food that came in plastic wrappers. At first, he thought maybe you were just too busy to get yourself groceries, skating by on whatever until you had the time. It wasn’t the kind of thing he had to concern himself with much; he could eat like a human if he wanted to, but for years now he preferred the simplicity of the kill instead. It never struck him as odd, just increasingly interesting to see what you might do next.

It’s these things he picked up on, elements that made you more of a mystery to him than anyone had ever been. He couldn’t help but watch you, fascinated by any tiny thing you did.

The first time he saw you blush, he felt something he’d been chasing ever since. He hadn’t even meant to, but you were standing outside your office looking up at him, some unanswered question hanging between the two of you. But there, just on the corner of your mouth was the tiniest bit of jam left behind from one of those awful convenience store donuts. You turned seven shades of pink as his thumb gently swiped over your face. He worried he had embarrassed you, but it was the act itself that left you too warm all over.

You weren’t even sure when the crush on your boss started, but you knew it got a million times worse after he wiped that jam from your face. He was tall and handsome, but most of all he was kind to you. Really, you never stood a fucking chance against that combination. But after that day he seemed to pay just a little more attention to you or at least you were more aware of whatever attention he gave you. He liked to tease you, throwing out the occasional odd comment or quip about your habits or coffee intake. It was lighthearted in a way you never expected him to be, not with that emotionless mask he painted on every day.

He would drop into your office from time to time, never saying more than a few words at first. But it began to happen often enough that you were putting more thought into your wardrobe. Nothing too drastic, you weren’t trying to get him to look at you, you just wanted to present a somewhat professional version of yourself who wasn’t intimidated by him or the girls downstairs. The version of you who didn’t have fucking crumbs on her face. It was bullshit of course. All he had to do was lean against your desk with his sleeves rolled up over his forearms and you’d forget every number you’d ever learned.

You wanted to write a love letter to whoever produced his favorite cologne, that slightly sweet yet smoky scent that stayed in your office long after he left. Your last boss smelled like mustard, but Mr. Emeritus smelled expensive and always in the right amount, as though he’d spent a lifetime perfecting his routine. You wondered how long it took him to get dressed every day, how much effort it took to make sure the waistcoat went with the shoes and the watch added to the outfit without distracting. Maybe it was effortless for him, the way some things just seemed to come easily to certain people.

You didn’t assume things were actually easy for him. You saw the hours he put in at the club. You saw the investment he’d made in his business. He knew everything that was going on at any given time. It seemed he was the same way with every facet of his life, picking up on the little details of the world and people around him. He made this wildly obvious the day he stopped by your office with a bag from some fancy bakery and set it in front of you.

“What’s that?” you asked, confused.

“It’s a raspberry chocolate croissant,” he stated flatly.

“Oh, uh, I’m fine. I have a bagel around here somewhere.”

“Now you don’t have to eat that stale bagel from yesterday,” he pointed out and tapped the bag. “They’re good. Trust me.”

“How—thank you.”

He shrugged. “You should have something better than old bread.”

“Like… fresh bread?”

He snorted and quickly covered his mouth, his eyes wide.

“Did you…did you just laugh?”

He shook his head. “That was so bad, tesorino.”

It started well before your stupid joke, but that day he learned just how easy it was to make your face flare pink. A couple of innocent yet slightly suggestive words and you’d be hiding your face behind your hands, complaining with an adorable little groan. But you’d bite back with a comment of your own, never letting him fully get away with it. And he liked that about you. He liked that you weren’t afraid of him like so many others were, even when you probably should have been. Even the Dolls had taken to their silly nickname to make him seem less intimidating, but he knew there was still that underlying fear, that completely human response to being near someone like him.

Apparently, it didn’t bother you at all. The fact was made so clear when you showed up at the annual Idolatry Halloween party with your face painted to match his. It was embarrassing that he didn’t know where to look, but you were barely wearing more than a blazer that was just long enough. But it was so much worse when you walked over to happily show off your costume.

“Look! I’m you!” you yelled over the music, doing a little spin as you presented yourself under the neon green glow of the club.

“Very funny,” he replied, trying to keep his voice as level as possible.

You didn’t seem to notice as you sucked your drink into your straw and grinned at him. “What are you? Some kind of Dracula?”

He never should have taken Copia’s advice on a fucking costume. He looked down at his own ridiculous outfit, some silly Victorian era get-up his brother had talked him into buying years ago. At the time it seemed like it would make a hilarious costume, but maybe a vampire was a little too on the nose.

“Something like that, yeah,” he said and adjusted the frilly cuff of his sleeve.

“Sweet cape,” you added with a smug grin, reaching up to adjust the way it fell over his shoulders.

“Nice dress.”

You smiled up at him. “Thanks! The Dolls helped me.”

“So, this was their idea?”

“No,” you laughed and shook your head. “This seemed like the best way to try to get you to blush. Well, this or showing up naked but let’s be honest, you see naked women all the time.”

He blinked hard at you, that horrible sensation of his face growing warm washing over him. “Y-you—”

“Hey, look at that! It worked,” you cheered and ran off, joining a group of Dolls seated at a nearby table.

Secondo stood there speechless, watching as you shared the tale of your victory with the others. He pretended not to see their heads turn toward him. Pretended he couldn’t see the Dolls whispering behind their hands or flagging Mary down to include them in whatever was happening. He was way too old for this and far too sober.

He crossed the room, stopping momentarily at the bar to request an old fashioned to nurse as the DJ slipped into some bass heavy song. It appeared to please the Dolls and the patrons, several of them climbing to their feet and crowding the makeshift dance floor in front of the main stage. The drink was bitter on his tongue, but the bourbon warmed him despite the ice. He might be dressed like an asshole, but he knew how to throw a good party. Or at least throw one arguably better than Copia and his nuns. He tensed slightly, the glass cracking under the pressure of his grip. He’d let himself get too wrapped up, too distracted by Copia’s nonsense and you, as much as he didn’t want to admit it. What a ridiculous idea it was to even think of you at all. You weren’t afraid of him, but you should have been. It would have been so much easier if you were. He never should have let you get as close as you did.

He looked around the club, noting any unfamiliar faces. It was dangerous for him to get distracted, especially now. Primo still hadn’t said anything about the abbey, but he knew his brother’s recklessness would cause problems for all of them. It was just a matter of when.

It didn’t ease his anxiety to find that Mary was still floating around, whispering with the Dolls instead of checking in with security. That paranoia set in, scratching away at the reasonable parts of himself until only the predator remained. He moved through the club, concentrating hard on appearing calm as he caught Mary by the elbow.

“What’s going on, Mary? Is there something I should know about?” Secondo asked, keeping his voice as low as possible under the music.

Mary raised an eyebrow. “I think you already do, Boss.”

“I don’t have time for games today.”

“The accountant,” Mary said knowingly and downed the rest of their drink.

“What?”

“Ok, maybe you don’t know,” they managed through a dry laugh. “You and the accountant.”

He didn’t mean to. He really, really didn’t mean to, but he scanned the crowd at the mere mention of you, trying to find you in the sea of people moving about. You were easy enough to spot, relaxing against the bar with some ridiculous cocktail and your face made up like his. A smile threatened to tug at the corner of his mouth, quickly replaced by his usual scowl as some idiot dressed like a doctor approached you.

“Uh oh,” Mary sang, staring off in your direction.

“Leave it alone, Mary,” he warned.

“Look Boss, if you ask me—”

“I didn’t,” he snapped.

“Ok then, unsolicited advice: talk to her. If that’s going well, maybe try giving her a gift. Girls like that shit.”

“I’m beginning to understand how you’re still single.”

“Oh yeah, because that couldn’t have anything to do with being blood-bound to a fucking vampire.”

Secondo shot Mary a stern look.

“Relax, old man. No one can hear us. And for the record? My sex life is way more active than yours.”

“How would you even know?”

“I make all your appointments, Boss. Outside of your brothers, you’ve got a pretty small social circle. So maybe you should go talk to her. But if I gotta stand here and keep doing this with you, I’m gonna need another drink.”

Mary kicked off the wall and crossed the room. Sliding a little too easily between you and the idiot, they expertly derailed whatever conversation the guy was trying make. Secondo was all too happy to watch the relief wash over your face, but you turned to look back at him instead. There was a ghost of a smile barely visible under your paint. He couldn’t tell what Mary had said to you, but it couldn’t have been good if you were looking at him like that.

He didn’t stick around to find out.

It wasn’t one of his greatest ideas, but the 25 year old scotch in his office was half empty before he could think of a better one. The cape had shifted to one shoulder, draping him dramatically as he lounged on the velvet chaise. What did Mary even mean anyway? There was no him and anybody, let alone him and the accountant. Maybe he liked your jokes, maybe he liked that perfect shade of pink that washed over your face. And he liked your hair. And your perfume. And that little groan you always made. And your stupid laugh.

But that didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t mean anything. You were this soft, delicate little thing and he was the stuff of nightmares.

He swore loudly as he dug his phone out of his pocket and hit call before he could change his mind. There was someone he could talk to, the one person who might be able to give him some kind of unbiased answer or advice. He scrubbed at his face as the line rang out, wondering if he really wanted to pay the price for this.

“Fratello!” Copia slurred loudly, the broken sounds of some party happening on the other end. “Mi scusi,” he shouted as the sound fell away.

“Hi Secondo,” the Countess sang into the phone.

Secondo swallowed hard. “Hi. Copia, can I talk to the Countess?”

“You are talking to the Countess,” he replied, followed by an uncontrollable burst of laughter.

Dread started to mix with the scotch in Secondo’s stomach.

“Amore, give me the phone,” the Countess ordered. He could hear Copia trying to argue in the background as the phone rustled between them. After a firmly shouted “no” the Countess returned. “I’m so sorry about him.”

“Is he on something?”

She giggled. “No, no. It’s just someone he ate.”

He sighed heavily. “You two were supposed to behave.”

“Ugh, if this is why you called you can go back to talking to him.”

“Wait, no. I—” Secondo swallowed every ounce of pride he’d ever had. “I think I need your help.”

“Mine? Why?” The sounds drifted further behind her as she moved away from the party. “Are you in trouble, Twos?”

He felt his teeth grind at her stupid nickname. “Everything’s fine. I just have…a human problem.”

“Oh. Kill them. Problem solved.”

“It’s not like that. Why would I need your help with that?”

“What else could it—oh. A human problem,” she repeated sadly. “Do they know about you?”

Secondo sat up and tugged the fastening to the cape apart, letting it fall from his shoulders as he stood. He began to place the length of his office, tracing his unbalanced steps repeatedly as the scotch began to wear him down. “I don’t think she does,” he admitted after a beat. “I mean, generally I try not to make it obvious.”

“She,” she confirmed with a smile in her voice. “You called because you have a crush.”

“I don’t. I just—”

“Copia, get down from there!” the Countess screamed. “I’m so sorry Secondo. I swear I’m never taking him anywhere ever again.”

“Eh, he needs to get out more. He can’t just sit in that castle for the rest of his eternal life.”

“He’s about to make it a lot fucking shorter if he falls off the roof of this frat house.”

“Dolce, look! I’m a gargoyle.”

“Yes, my love. The most handsome gargoyle there ever was. Will you please come down and help me? Twos has a problem.”

Secondo cringed at their conversation, waiting as they went back and forth with each other. He couldn’t comprehend the amount of love the Countess must have had for Copia. To be patient with him even when he was at his worst must have been some superhuman feat. It didn’t make any sense for her to baby the man who killed an entire abbey full of people because they said she couldn’t see him. But what did Secondo know? Maybe that was love.

“Fratello who hurt you?” There was an edge to his brother’s voice, something angry, protective.

“No one hurt him, amore,” the Countess said, trying to soothe him. “So, you don’t have feelings for this girl, and she doesn’t know you’re a vampire, but you still have a problem?”

“Yes?” Secondo confirmed, slightly confused.

“Hmm, is she pretty?”

“What?”

“The girl. Do you find her attractive?”

“Um, I—yeah, I guess I do?”

“And not just, like, her looks, but is she smart? Is she funny?”

“Yes.”

“Do you find yourself going out of your way to see her sometimes?”

His mouth went dry. “Yes.”

“Do you…look forward to seeing her?” she asked gently.

“Yes.”

“Well do you think if you…you know, got it out of your system so to speak—”

“I don’t follow.”

The Countess sighed. “Do you just want to fuck her?”

“No, that’s—no.”

“Secondo, it sounds like you do have a crush on this girl.”

“No, no, no. That can’t be it—”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Twos.”

“It doesn’t matter if there’s something wrong with it or not. That’s not what’s happening. And even if it was, even if there was a snowballs chance in hell, it would mean nothing, because it’s not happening. It can’t happen.” He was almost yelling now, trying to get the Countess to understand that things between the two of you simply would not work.

“Well, why not?”

“I—look, it just wouldn’t. We’re…different.”

“Uh, I was a fucking nun when I met your brother.”

“Fine. I’m different and she’s…”

“She’s what?”

“An accountant.”

He didn’t hear you come up the hallway in your search for him. He didn’t know that you were just outside his office as he admitted to the Countess exactly who you were. You could only hear one side of the conversation, but it was enough.

“I thought you ate your accountant?” the Countess asked, confused.

“No, that was the last one.”

“Oh. So, you have a new accountant who you don’t have a crush on because if you did it wouldn’t mean anything. And yet you still called me to ask about her? Please tell me you’re connecting the dots here, Twos.”

“Fuck,” he whispered harshly. “Oh, fuck.”

“So, what is it, Twos? What is it about this girl that’s got you all wound up?”

“She’s just…” he trailed off and sighed, a fond smile spreading across his face. “She’s kind of hopeless.”

“Excuse me?” you asked loudly behind him.

Secondo whipped around so fast he nearly fell over. “Countess, I’ll call you back.”

“Don’t worry, I’m leaving,” you spat angrily.

“Wait, tesorino—” he called out, drunkenly tripping over his own feet. He had never seen you so upset, so hurt, not even when told him about the guy who broke your heart. Your words dripped with venom, but you had stayed calm, your pulse steady. Now he could hear it pounding in his ears like an entire drum corps as you stumbled away from him.

“Why? So, you can tell me more about how you really feel about me? Fuck, I came up here to make sure you were ok.” You laughed angrily. “Turns out you’re fine, you’re always fine aren’t you? God, what is it like to be so much better than the rest of us, huh?”

“I-I’m not. I am so much worse than you—”

“Wow. Fuck you.” The curse was barely a whisper, that last little bit of control you had snapping under the weight of it. Tears streamed wet trails down your face, washing away the face paint as it went and dripped black and white splotches onto your chest. It was stupid of you to entertain the idea that he could ever have feelings for you, that maybe tonight you could have told him how you felt and it would be ok. It never occurred to you that there could be someone else—a fucking Countess no less. Some beautiful woman somewhere who understood him better than you ever could and had never once gotten powdered sugar on her clothes.

“No, no, no, wait,” he begged as he chased after you. “That’s not what I meant. I—I’m just…I’m drunk, and you’re drunk, and this is—”

“I’m gonna go. You should call your girlfriend back.”

Secondo felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest. He didn’t know what else to do, couldn’t do anything except watch you leave. He heard the door to the club open, music spilling in as you slipped away. It drifted back out just as quickly, the silence only broken by the sound of his phone smashing against the wall.

You told yourself you weren’t thinking about kissing your boss before, but now you definitely weren’t thinking about it. There was no way to tell what his actual problem was last night, and you weren’t going out of your way to find out. Maybe he was in a bad mood, maybe he was just that drunk. Maybe he was the kind of guy who gets a little rude when he’s hungry—either way it wasn’t your problem. He didn’t get to make it your problem. And bad mood or not, he didn’t get to talk to you like that—about you like that.

It wasn’t the most mature thing you’d ever done, but you made sure to come to the office later than usual to avoid running into him. When you made it upstairs and found the door to his office closed, you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. You stopped to make sure he wasn’t waiting in your office before you closed the door behind you and settled in.

It didn’t make any sense to you when Mr. Emeritus knocked and entered without your permission anyway. He waltzed into your office and placed a large stoneware dish in the middle of your desk like it was the most natural action in the world. Like the two of you hadn’t been screaming at each other a handful of hours ago. The dish was the same deep green he always seemed to accessorize everything with, from the face on his watch to the velvet chaise in his office. It was probably just as expensive as everything else he owned, but it didn’t explain why it was on your desk.

But whatever was inside smelled amazing.

“What is this?” you asked, gesturing toward the dish in confusion when he failed to speak up.

“It’s lasagna,” he replied quietly, keeping his eyes trained on the floor.

“Do you think I’m completely incapable of taking care of myself?” You were not prepared to have this conversation with him again.

“No, it’s not—I owe you an apology.”

“Ok. But this is an entire lasagna.”

“You deserve a better apology than just one piece. Everything’s made from scratch, except the cheese. And I’m sorry.”

You raised an eyebrow and poked at the dish. “So, who made it?”

“I did,” he admitted softly.

“You,” you confirmed with an air of disbelief. “You made lasagna from scratch. Like what…like the…ok I’m going to be honest with you I don’t even know what the fuck is in lasagna. What is happening right now?”

“What you heard—what I said last night, it was out of context, but that doesn’t make it right. That’s not what I think of you. That’s not how I see you.”

Even with the paint you could tell he was tired. You wondered if he got any sleep at all or if he’d simply sacrificed it to make you an apology lasagna. “I…um…”

“It’s ok. You don’t have to forgive me or anything. I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry and I respect you…a lot honestly. You’re kind of…I don’t know—”

“I’m gonna stop you there because we definitely don’t have an HR department,” you interrupted with a nervous smile. “You’re sorry. I’m sorry. It’s ok, it’s done. And I got dinner out of it.”

“It’s vegetarian,” he offered as he slipped his hands into his pockets. “Seemed like the safest bet.”

“That is really thoughtful of you.”

He nodded and let a shy smile form on his face before heading for the door. “She’s not my girlfriend, by the way,” he called over his shoulder.

“What?”

“The Countess,” he answered and leaned against the doorframe. “She’s not my girlfriend. I mean, if you really wanted to know you could have just asked me if I was single.”

His smile grew as your entire face turned pink before you hid behind your hands. “Oh my god you are actually the worst,” you groaned between your fingers. “Get out of my office.”

“Enjoy the lasagna,” he said with a little laugh and disappeared out the door.

Your boss was confusing and infuriating, but underneath it all he meant well. You still weren’t sure what kind of conversation you had overheard, maybe you’d never know. Maybe it wasn’t for you to know. But the big, intimidating man who painted a skull on his face every day had bent over backwards to try to make it up to you. A man who owed you absolutely nothing wanted things between the two of you to go back to normal. He wasted no time with his stupid jokes—they might have even gotten worse. But he smiled a little easier around you after that, a flash of sharp white teeth you found yourself hoping you’d see more often. He began to find more reasons to visit your office, sometimes saying nothing as he sat on the worn out sofa in the corner and tossed your stuffed Baphomet from one hand to the other.

You did the same in turn, spending more and more time in his office. The rumor mill turned downstairs, the Dolls creating reasons and scenarios amongst themselves that Mary refused to confirm or deny. Things only escalated after the day you were too busy compiling tax forms to remember to eat and fainted, falling right into Secondo’s arms. Two of the Dolls, Mina and Lucy, had been in his office updating their paperwork and watched the entire thing unfold. Everyone at the club had already heard by the time you woke up, though no one seemed especially surprised no matter how many times you told them nothing was going on.

It was true. There was nothing going on between you and your boss aside from a couple of lighthearted conversations and unexpected deliveries from that fancy bakery he liked. But you didn’t mind. You didn’t need more than that from him. Truth be told, it was probably better that nothing happened at all. You couldn’t handle another heartbreak anyway.

Secondo frowned at the sight of your empty office. He wasn’t even sure why he was so disappointed not to find you, but he was slowly beginning to grasp that whatever he felt about you wasn’t going away any time soon. He kept it to himself, of course, never wanting to admit to you or anyone that he could care about you. But there was a part of him that was invested completely, a part that wanted—needed to know that you were safe and happy. If he knew that much, he could handle anything else.

There were only so many places in the building you could be. It didn’t take long for him to hear your laugh ringing through the hallway outside the Dolls’ dressing room. He leaned against the doorway, watching as you leaned over and pointed at something in the massive stack of paper you’d handed to Mina.

“High heeled?” Mina asked, her head tilting as she stared at you in confusion.

“High yield,” you corrected with a light laugh.

“Oh! Yeah, that makes way more sense.” She shook her hair away from her face as she laughed, the glitter around her eyes catching the light as she moved. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“Enough for what?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest in mock disappointment.

“Hey Bone Daddy,” Mina called with a wave. She clutched the packet you gave her to her chest as she stood. “I should get back out there.”

Secondo waited until she was gone to speak again. “Are you planning on stealing my Dolls?”

“Hardly,” you shot back quickly. “I’m helping her set up a retirement fund. Did you know Mina cleared six figures last year?”

“Is that a lot?” he teased.

“You not knowing that would explain a lot about your financial records.”

“I know what Mina makes. I know what all the girls make. Even you,” he added, letting his voice drop low.

“I’m not one of your girls, Secondo,” you reminded him playfully. You knew better, but your face felt hot anyway.

“Is that judgement?”

“Of course not!”

“I’m just teasing you, tesorino. You’re wound so tight for someone who works in a place like this.”

“I am not.”

He shrugged. “I appreciate you helping the Dolls. It’s…kind of you.”

“Just doing my job.”

“No, you’re not.”

You sighed. “They’re good people. I just want to help.”

“I know. It’s quite noble of you, good quality for a person to have. Maybe you should focus that energy on yourself sometime.”

“Hey I—”

“Did you eat today? Or did you think three iced coffees was enough to sustain you?”

“What are you, my dad?”

He smiled. “Oh, you can call me daddy if you’d like.”

“I hate you so much,” you groaned as your face turned from pink to red.

“I guess I can live with that,” he said with a shrug, knowing neither one of you really meant what you said.

You rolled your eyes and slipped past him, darting through the door that led back out to the club. You could have taken the back hallway to head back up to your office; it was the faster, quieter path. But occasionally, you liked to be reminded of how successful the club was on more than paper. There was something magical about the glitz and glamor of the place, about the noise and the lights. Secondo had created something truly special with his club and you could only hope he let himself be proud of it.

You weaved through the crowd, trying to make your way to the other end when an arm locked around your waist. Some stranger was pawing at you, breathing in your ear as they requested a private dance. You shook your head, frantically trying to explain to the man that you weren’t one of the Dolls and even if you were he wasn’t allowed to touch you. Whatever argument you tried to make fell flat as the man restrained you, pulling you by your wrists toward the private rooms. You wanted to cry. You wanted to scream. You wanted to do anything to help yourself out of this situation, but your body had gone numb.

The sickening sound of the man’s bones snapping seemed to drown out the music, followed shortly by his shouts of pain. Secondo had somehow put himself between you and the man, breaking both of the man’s hands in the process. The last thing you saw was the man brandishing something metal. It caught the light as he held it up, its sharp edge reflecting neon.

“C’mon, we gotta go,” Mary said, but they had already pulled you from the room as security poured in behind you.

“No, Mary, he has a fucking knife!”

“The Boss will be fine, trust me. I can’t say the same for you and me if we don’t get upstairs now.”

Your body gave up, your resolve snapping cleanly in half as tears fell from your eyes. You had never been so scared in your entire life. This was supposed to be your fortress, the place where these things couldn’t happen. You let out another round of sobs as Mary hoisted you over their shoulder and carried you upstairs.

You collapsed on the chaise, wrapping your arms around your knees as Mary slammed the door to Secondo’s office closed with a force you couldn’t quite comprehend. There were locks sliding into place, things you had never bothered to notice as chaos rained downstairs. Mary ran back and forth, pulling up camera feeds on any and every available screen, their bottom lip pulled nervously between their teeth.

As quickly as it started, it was over. You blinked hard through your tears as Mary pulled the locks back and Secondo burst through the door. His suit was soaked with blood.

“Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” Secondo asked as he pulled you up from the chaise and tugged at your arms, inspecting them as he went. He brought his hands to your face as he searched you for injuries. His eyes, usually so hard and still, were full of fear, softened by his concern for you.

You shook your head frantically once his words really sunk in. You weren’t hurt, but you were worried by the amount of blood around his mouth and down the front of his suit. “That man—”

“Will never touch you again,” he swore. “I can promise you that.”

“Did he hurt you?” you asked in a tiny voice. It seemed like such a stupid question, as though anyone remotely like Secondo could be hurt in a fight, but there was so much blood. The adrenaline in your body was rapidly wearing off, your limbs getting heavier as the seconds ticked by.

“No. I’m fine, tesorino.”

“But you’re bleeding.”

He quickly brought the back of his hand to his mouth, swiping at the red stain. Instead of pulling his hand away, his tongue darted out. His eyes rolled back at the taste, out of disgust or arousal you weren’t sure. Your vision was fuzzy enough at the edges, that tunnel closing in. Maybe you hadn’t seen what you thought you’d seen?

“Sec—” was all you managed before he caught you in his arms.

thank you for your time 💖 part two

#my fic #papa emeritus ii x reader #papa emeritus ii fanfic #secondo x reader #secondo fanfiction #vampire secondo x reader #vampire secondo #ghost band fanfiction #the band ghost fanfiction #suck club forever

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bluesturngold · 3 months ago

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Misinformation's Role in Sensationalizing the Arrest of a Florida Furry

People on Twitter are posting memes about a member of the furry community who was arrested in Florida for murder.

This isn't typically something I would write about, but the furry in question commissioned a profile photo from the same artist who created my profile photo, and people have essentially harassed the artist off of twitter by sharing the art he commissioned from her.

The memes are predicated on a screenshot taken from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office inmate booking blotter, as pictured below:

I'm not humorless and can see how the average terminally online person could find the thought of a furry blowing someone away with a missile funny, but the unfortunate combination of an inadequate booking system and a misunderstanding of what "missile" refers to legally are why this meme exists in the first place.

Here is the full text of Florida Statute 790.19:

"Whoever, wantonly or maliciously, shoots at, within, or into, OR throws any missile OR hurls or projects a stone or other hard substance which would produce death or great bodily harm, at, within, or in any public or private building, occupied or unoccupied, or public or private bus or any train, locomotive, railway car, caboose, cable railway car, street railway car, monorail car, or vehicle of any kind which is being used or occupied by any person, or any boat, vessel, ship, or barge lying in or plying the waters of this state, or aircraft flying through the airspace of this state shall be guilty of a felony of the second degree."

I've bolded the important bits there: this statute covers both shooting within/into an occupied space as well as throwing or otherwise launching something that could cause physical harm within/into an occupied space, i.e. a brick through a window into a business that has customers inside. As someone who's reported on court cases like this before, I would expect to see charges relating to incendiary devices or explosives if someone truly had fired a missile into a dwelling.

This is why I say the booking system is inadequate: the person who typed up the summary of this statute did so with no regard for how easy it is for a layperson to misinterpret, and then the person who selected statute 790.19 whilst filling out this guy's booking information was stuck with the statute description it had already been given... unless they wanted to find someone in their IT department or the vendor who built the booking system and file a ticket for them to change it, which could take weeks.

Misleading statute descriptions are a huge issue when your inmate bookings can be viewed online by members of the public, and it's just another sign of how little law enforcement cares about inmates and the public that they didn't put more consideration into making their statue descriptions easier to understand.

The premeditated first degree murder charge also just isn't accurate; presumably the sheriff's office had little to no idea whether the murder was or wasn't premeditated when they arrested the guy, so the person doing the booking picked the more severe one. (Pretend I repeated the line about how little law enforcement cares again.)

If you didn't know this, here's a public service announcement: it's basically never a good idea to read a law enforcement agency's inmate listings and take what they say as fact. Cross referencing the inmate listing with the county court clerk's online case search made it really clear that the inmate listing was misleading:

'Second degree murder with a firearm' and 'shooting into building' paint such a simple and effective picture of what the defendant is being charged with.

I know a fair number of terminally online people who aren't furries just think it's inherently funny or meme-worthy when a furry gets arrested for anything, but I think if the sheriff's office or the vendor who created their booking system wasn't inept and careless more people would've realized this was just a tragic but otherwise mundane murder allegedly committed by someone with an unconventional, unrelated hobby.

#death #murder #politics #furry #news

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gillianthecat · 1 year ago

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Workplaces in QL Shows

Step by Step got me thinking about the types of companies that get used as the settings for Office Romance in QL, and then by extension, what kinds of work characters do. I've only included ones where the job or the workplace is somehow part of the story or is a setting (so jobs the characters had as background info don't count). I didn't include censored BL because I feel that setting plays a different (more prominent than usual in BL) role in those types of stories. I didn't count university students doing school projects, but did include teenagers actually working. This is only the list of shows I've seen or know enough about to make as guess, so a lot are missing. Please add on, or make corrections! Titles with an asterisk * are included in multiple categories (leads had different jobs, or one job fits both categories). Titles in (parenthesis) I've only watched a part of, but enough to determine what work they did, titles in [brackets] I haven't seen so I'm going off what I've read.

(updated 1/7/24 with shows some new shows and some old ones I've seen since first posting. still not a comprensive list.)

Marketing/Advertising Office

🇹🇭 GAP

🇹🇭 Step By Step

🇰🇷 The New Employee

🇰🇷 Roommates of Poongduck 304

🇰🇷 All the Liquors *

🇹🇭 [Check Out]

🇹🇭 [Paint with Love] *

Graphic Design Office

🇹🇭 Bed Friend (or is it also marketing?)

🇹🇭 Middleman's Love

🇯🇵 Senpai, This Can't Be Love!

Architecture

🇹🇭 Big Dragon

🇹🇭 Love in the Air *

Game Design

🇹🇭 A Boss and a Babe

🇰🇷 Our Dating Sim

Other/Business Empire/Generic Office setting (or I never figured out what they did)

🇯🇵 Old Fashion Cupcake (i never figured it out)

🇹🇼 We Best Love 2 (some tech thing?)

🇹🇭 To Sir With Love * (business empire)

🇹🇭 Cutie Pie (business empire)

🇯🇵 Cherry Magic (stationary company, iirc)

🇹🇭 Cherry Magic

🇹🇭 Love in the Air * (some sort of business empire?)

🇹🇼 [Be Loved In House: I Do] *

🇰🇷 [Love Mate]

🇰🇷 Naked Dining *

🇯🇵 Doublemints *

🇯🇵 (Ossan's Love) (real estate)

🇭🇰 [Ossan's Love]

Law Office

🇹🇼 Plus and Minus *

🇹🇭 Laws of Attraction *

Restaurant/Coffee Shop/Bar

🇰🇷 Ocean Likes Me *

🇰🇷 Choco Milk Shake

🇰🇷 The Tasty Florida

🇰🇷 (Unintentional Love Story) *

🇰🇷 To My Star * (1 & 2)

🇰🇷 All the Liquors *

🇰🇷 Happy Merry Ending *

🇹🇼 [Be Loved In House: I Do] *

🇹🇼 Plus and Minus *

🇹🇼 [My Tooth Your Love] *

🇹🇼 [DNA Says Love You]

🇹🇭 [Coffee Melody] *

🇹🇭 [Moonlight Chicken]

🇹🇭 [What Zabb Man!]

🇻🇳 [You Are Ma Boy]

🇻🇳 [My Lascivious Boss]

🇹🇭 Laws of Attraction *

🇹🇭 (Bake Me Please)

🇹🇭 [609 Bedtime Story] *

🇹🇼 [VIP Only] *

Other Shop/Service

🇯🇵 Minato Shouji Coin Laundry (laundromat)

🇹🇼 Plus and Minus * (dry cleaner)

🇹🇭 Love in the Air * (mechanic)

🇰🇷 [Oh! Boarding House]

🇹🇭 [My Ride] * (moterbike taxi)

🇰🇷 Naked Dining* (grocery store)

🇹🇭 Pit Babe (race car team)

Artist/Artist's Shop

🇰🇷 (Unintentional Love Story) * (ceramics)

🇹🇼 [Be Loved In House: I Do] * (jewelry/metalworking)

🇯🇵 Utsukushii Kare Eternal* (photographer)

TV/Film/Idol Industry

🇹🇭 War of Y

🇹🇭 [House of Stars]

🇹🇭 [Show Me Love]

🇰🇷 (The Director Who Buys Me Dinner)

🇹🇭 (Vice Versa)

🇹🇭 (Love Stage)

🇯🇵 (Love Stage)

🇰🇷 To My Star * (1 & 2)

🇹🇭 Lovely Writer *

🇰🇷 Individual Circumstances *

🇹🇭 [Paint with Love] *

🇯🇵 I Became the Main Role of a BL

🇯🇵 Utsukushii Kare Eternal *

Music/Idol Industry

🇰🇷 Happy Merry Ending *

🇰🇷 Ocean Likes Me *

🇰🇷 [Wish You]

🇹🇭 [Coffee Melody] *

🇻🇳 [You Are Ma Boy]

🇯🇵 Kabe-Koji-Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to be Recognized *

🇹🇭 [609 Bedtime Story] *

Journalism

🇯🇵 Candy Color Paradox

🇯🇵 My Personal Weatherman *

Publishing Industry/Writers

🇰🇷 Happy Ending Romance

🇰🇷 Individual Circumstances *

🇯🇵 The Novelist/The Pornographer series

🇹🇭 Lovely Writer *

🇰🇷 [First Love, Again]

🇹🇼 [VIP Only] *

Manga/Manwha Artists/Illustrators

🇯🇵 Kabe-Koji-Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to be Recognized *

🇰🇷 Oh! My Assistant

🇯🇵 Jack o' Frost

🇯🇵 My Personal Weatherman *

Medical

🇹🇭 (Dear Doctor I'm Coming for Soul)

🇹🇼 [My Tooth Your Love] *

🇹🇭 [Manner of Death]

🇹🇭 [Physical Therapy]

🇹🇭 (My Ride)*

🇻🇳 [Mr. Cinderella]

🇻🇳 [Want to See You]

🇹🇭 [Triage]

🇹🇭 [Sky In Your Heart] *

Mafia/Criminal Underworld

🇹🇭 KinnPorsche

🇹🇭 [Love Syndrome]

🇹🇭 [Unforgotten Night]

🇹🇭 [Chains of Heart] *

🇹🇭 [3 Will Be Free]

🇹🇭 [Golden Blood]

🇹🇼 [HIStory 3: Trapped]

🇹🇭 Never Let Me Go (debated whether to include these children, but ultimately decided they work. still unclear on whether it's mafia or a legit business)

🇹🇭 To Sir With Love *

🇯🇵 Doublemints *

🇰🇷 Long Time No See

🇹🇭 (My Dear Gangster Oppa)

Sex Work

🇹🇭 [Playboyy]

🇯🇵 The Shortest Distance is Round

Debt Collection

🇹🇭 [Even Sun]

🇰🇷 [You Make Me Dance]

Park Rangers/Teachers (the "Other" category, but that's what's in it so far)

🇹🇭 [1000 Stars]

🇹🇭 [Sky In Your Heart] *

🇻🇳 [TienTai Bromance]

🇹🇭 [Chains of Heart] * (this is based on the MDL synopsis, so I don't know if it's accurate, but I was so tickled to have two shows in the park/forest ranger category I had to include it)

#ql lists #ql settings #adults in bl #office bl #bl lists #currently at 65 different shows. if i counted right #ql workplaces

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zlitbtrwel · 7 months ago

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What do you love most?

Myself.

Sun. Sky. Stars. Clouds. Weather. Ocean. Wind. Trees. Dirt. Lakes. Streams. Rivers. Rain.

Museums. Art galleries. Aquariums. Planetariums. Zoos. Gas stations. The beach. Public parks. Golf courses. Country clubs.

Birds. Bugs. Fish. Aquatic mammals & other non-fish sea life. Hands. Friends. Planes. Space. Boats. Cityscapes. A room with a view. Room service.

Algebra. Geometry. Philosophy. Psychology. History. U.S. Military.

Ferrari. Porsche. Tesla. Maserati. Lexus. Hyundai. Nissan.

Oil painting. Photography. Ballet. Short and easy hikes. Writing. Drawing. Yoga. Pilates. Knife throwing. Floor laying. Showering for far too long. Weekly massages. Laundry. Tidy home. Cooking. Baking. Inventing recipes. Traveling. Car-living. Organizing. Color coding. Alphabetizing. Observing. Dissecting. Tea parties. Pickle ball. Creating. Tarot reading.

iPad. Procreate. Books. Blue ray DVD’s. Sketch books. Cute notes. Flowers. Sailor Moon Monopoly. Game boy. Switch. Legos. Stuffed bunny. Rose oil. Mini projector. White Reeboks. Bumble bee Gucci’s. Tennis skirts with pockets. Hotel pillows. Z flip 5. Digital camera. Camcorder.

Sushi. Pork burritos. Cheesecake. Fried pickles. Grilled shrimp. Salmon. Tilapia. French fries in fish burritos. Ramen. Fried eggs. Salt and pepper chips. Jalapeño cheddar Cheetos. Annie Chuns. Calpico strawberry. Calpico peach. Aloe Vera juice. Coconut water. Steak. Fettuccine Alfredo. Pesto. Panini. Turkey sandwiches. Hot sandwiches. Ranch. House made dill pickle spears. Fish tacos. Siracha mayo. Chamberlain Coffee Matcha. Strawberry oatmeal. Konjac Jelly. Tteokbokki. Pasta. Sparking cider. Sparkling grape juice. Peach juice. Watermelon juice. Lime juice. Pineapple juice. Pickle juice.

Go Fish. Phase 10. Spit. Uno. Skip Bo. Funky puzzles.

Mario Kart. Barbie groovy games. Hello kitty happy party pals. Minecraft. Scooby doo. Frogger. Fruit ninja.

F1. Basketball. Baseball. Football (American). Tennis. Sometimes golf. Horse racing.

Pretty nails. Jewel tones. Tatcha. Pan Oxyl. Face masks. Burt’s bees. L’Oréal Paris. Snail mucin. Pureology (blue). Okay firming lotion. Okay beauty bar. Florida water soap bar. Wax strips. Exfoliating gloves. Lume.

Silk & satin. High thread counts. Soft skin. Clear skin. Happy eyes. Well-rested. Good-humored. Fresh breath. Clean white teeth. Physically fit. Good health.

Zendaya. Beyoncé. Boyfriend. Blonde friend. Brunette friend. Grandma. Grandpa. Assistant. Accountants. Business Manager. Lawyers. Anne Hathaway. Anna-Taylor Joy. Carlos Sainz. Lewis Hamilton. Kardashians. Camille Rowe. Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri. Dove Cameron. Max Verstappen. Fernando Alonso. Emma Watson. Margot Robbie. Cher. Alex Albon. Sabrina Carpenter. Victoria Beckham. Lily James. Elle Fanning. Angelina Jolie. George Russell. Rihanna. Olivia Rodrigo. Jenna Ortega. Kaya Scodelario. Dylan O’Brien. Barbra Palvin Sprouse. Dylan Sprouse. Shuang Hu. Seo Yeaji. Kim Soohyun. All BTS members. Logan Lerman. Alexandra Daddario. Uma Therman. Natalia Dyer. Dacre Montgomery. Jackson Wang.

Starfire. Kate Sharma. Jeremiah (tatbilb). Shawn Spencer. Gus TT Showbiz. Juliette Ohera Spencer. Percy Jackson. Robin (teen titans). HeKate. Persephone. Venus. Aria (PLL).

Individuality. Confidence. Kindness. Unorthodox solutions. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. Exclusivity. Loyalty. Honesty.

The list goes on, and on, forever. . .

#🥂

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tblsomedoodles · 1 year ago

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Plz tell me about George. I don't think we ever had an explanation for George

I have talked about him before, but it's been a while and i'm always down to talk about George! : ) He's had a few different versions (and his own au that i did nothing with. It is one of the early stops in Donnieverse though, so there's that.) but the i settled on now is done in such a way that

But George is my IRL turtle if he got mutated in Rise. IRL George is an Eastern Painted Turtle that my family has had for...21 years i believe. (i was little when we got him so i'm not entirely sure the age.)

(i know i've shared this photo before, but he's hard to photograph and this is the best one i've ever gotten.)

Character George is a 21 year old (or he is post krang) Mutated Eastern Painted Turtle that Draxum accidentally mutated six years before the cannon boys were created. He works in the Hidden City as a mechanic (and general handy-turtle when no one has a car for him to fix.)

He's Morgan's neighbor and tends to keep an eye out for them since Morgan doesn't exactly have anyone else. I think Morgan might have a summer job running customer service at his shop since communicating with clients is often hard for him since the only speach he's capable of is turtle noises like chirps and hisses. (he knows sign language but doesn't use it much since his version is altered and there's not a lot of clients that can understand it. If he has to communicate himself, he usually just writes it down quickly in a small pocket notebook.)

He is very protective of those he sees as family or friends, though he doesn't really have many. (morgan is counted as one of those. the cannon boys would be too if he ever gets the chance to meet them.)

He also loves cars. just absolutely adores them. He loves working on and fixing them up. As a result, he's almost always covered in oil or grease of some sort.

I wrote up a bit more on his backstory too, but it's long so i'm putting it under a break for those that want to keep reading.

Draxum had acquired a baby painted turtle from a human to study to figure out if turtles would be a good mutation base. He left bitty, unmutated George alone on a table that had like a petri dish of unfinished mutagen, and George got into it before Draxum could turn back around.

Because the mutagen was incomplete, his mutation isn't the same as the boys, and is a little more turtle like than they are. The main obvious differences being that he, like unmutated turtles, has no voicebox, and he has a tail.

Draxum never quite realized he had human-like intelegence. He knew he was smarter than an average turtle but baby George was pretty scared of him and, as a result, never did anything around Draxum that could have clued him in on how smart his accidental creation was. (i don't think baby george intentionally hid his intelegence, he was just too scared to act on what he understood if Drax was around.) Draxum did spend time trying to fix the missing voicebox 'issue' but was never able to. It left some surgical scars around his neck that present day George keeps covered.

He escaped Draxum's lab the day Lou blew it up (In his specific au, he escaped with baby Raph and baby Donnie, but otherwise he escapes alone) and ends up loose in the hidden city.

After a bit an old Mechanic yokai finds and helps him, eventually taking him in and teaching him how to fix cars. I think the yokai gifted him the garage/shop of his, either when he retired and went to live in hidden city Florida, or died of old age. Either way he ends up with the garage/shop that is his pride and joy. He loves that shop.

Anyways, that's about it! That's my George! He can now be found floating around the Hidden City in all my aus b/c I can put him there! Idk if he ever meets the cannon boys in any of them (maybe Seer Twins b/c of Donnie Friend-adopting Morgan) but he's there. : )

Thank you!

#asks #tmnt #rottmnt #my turtle george

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damagedgoods13 · 5 months ago

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In November of 2023 my husband, Candus, Don, and I were talking on the phone deciding when we should go up and finally get to not just visit them, but also meet them for the 1st time! We were all so excited and chose to go to TN for the Missing and Exploited Childrens event, and the next day it was Summers 8th birthday! We knew how important this event was and we were happy to spend Summer Moon Utah Wells 8th birthday with her parents.

Friday,February,02,2024.

The sun rose up over the mountains early that morning, I was dressing to take my dog out for her 1st walk of the day and i wasnt loving the idea of walking out into the cold, brisk morning air. The mountain tops still showed signs of snow, the fog was heavily floating around the hills, and sunk deep into the valley. As I decended down the stairs I heard a slight crunching noise as I placed all of my weight onto my right foot. I remember looking down at Whisper and asking her if her tootsies were okay. Whisper looked up at me, and then quickly looked away and headed off into the direction that was sure to be the "perfect" potty spot. As we walked across the cold, frosted grass it crunched with every step we took. This was Whispers 1st time ever experiencing weather this cold, and it had been years since id been in this kind of weather. Even though the freezing wind burned my face, there was something refreshing about breathing in the cold, fresh morning air. I took a few more steps, smiled, and said well Whisper, Welcome to Tennessee!

Don and Candus had already left for work, and when our morning walk was finished we went inside so Matt, and I could pack Whispers diaper bag and ourselves ready to head out for the day. Our 1st stop was Chips a cute little drive through, I cant remember exactly what it was that we had to eat, all we knew was it was delicious. Whisper approved of her food as well! We didnt have any real plans on where we wanted to go, but we knew on our way back to the house after our drive. There's something fun and exciting about being in a new area, being a tourist may seem weird to some, but we very much enjoyed it. This was Matts 1st time out of Florida, and he had never seen mountains before so seeing the look on his face made me smile.

On the way back to the hollar, I started to feel this heaviness come over me. Tonight, the 4 of us were going to the Baptist church that was hosting th event for Missing and Exploited Children, Summer Wells was headlining the event. Don and Candus were undoubtedly very emotional, I was as well. This was the night we went to honor all the missing children. Tonight, we all packed into Candus' car, and off we went.

The church was nicely decorated, and lit up. There were a few tall wooden crosses covered with pictures of hundreds of missing children. Some of those children went missing as infants, and would now be teenagers. The most noticable of all were the large, beautiful hand painted portraits of Don, Candus, and their 4 children, and 1 beautiful and very lifelike portrait of Summer. This painting was so realistic I swore Summer could just walk right off of it. We helped Candus and a few others set things up, and then went to meet everyone that had arrived after us. Being YouTubers we knew of quite few people that were attending the event with us, but had never had the pleasure of meeting in person until this night.

Lots of smiles that were hiding tears and emotions, plenty of warm welcoming and loving hugs to help hold those tears back. The music started, Robin took her plave at the podium, and it was time to be seated so the service could begin. It only took about 5 minutes for me to break and start crying. I looked over at Candus to see how she ws holding up, and I was so thankful that she had her husband, and friends gathered around to comfort her.I could tell by the look on their faces that no matter how many people were there, no matter how many hugs, and comforting words were exchanged Don and Candus would soon break down. I couldnt imagine how all of these parents, grandparents, and other family members were able to survive all of these horribly tragic situations that had befallen on them. How in the world were they all so fragile, yet so strong? Each and every single on of them were living their own personal nightmares, the nightmares were all so different, yet all the same.

1 by 1 each family had someone theyd chosen to go up to the podium to speak on behalf of the family, and their missing loved one. Every story made it harder and harder for me to keep my composure. It wasnt until everyone had told their stories that the projector came on. The music, the words, the videos, and slideshow of pictures of little 5 year old Summer had started playing. This is when I lost it, I looked over to check on my friends, and as I had expected they were a mess. The tears, the painful looks on Don and Candus' faces were more than enough to scream what their emotions, and feelings wee at that very moment. I was watching my friends lose all of their composure, and just shatter into a million pieces. It was horrible, it was painful, it was something no parent should ever experience in their lives, and yet somehow every single day for 3 years they woke up, got out of bed, and carried on handling all the many demands life was throwing at them. Somehow no matter how hard the days, weeks, months and years had been for the Wells family they were still doing everything in their power to make it through. Somehow they found the strength to get out of bed, get dressed, and just breathe. Somehow no matter how hard and painful life was for them, the never lost their faith in God.

Many people from the internet had found a way to meet Don and Candus, and almost every one of them stabbed these suffering parents in their backs. People from all over the country had taken advantage of their kindness, and lied to them over and over again just so they could have a story for their channels. The devil sent in some of his best demons to manipulate, trick, and hurt Mr. and Mrs. Wells, but they stayed strong and their faith never wavered. These parents had been hurt by so many people claiming to be their friends, and yet they still trusted and accepted my husand and I. I could never in a million years tell you why they chose to be friends with us, or why they chose to trust, and confide in us, but I can tell you that I am blessed to have met them, and still to this day have them in my life.

The church event no matter how sad it was, turned out beautiful. This church and all of its volunteers hosted an event to honor those that are missing, to share their stories, to share the pain of the family members left with out their loved ones, and it taught us so much. The number of missing children, and adults in that area was such an overwhelmingly high number that it shocked me.Id learned so much from everyone who attended this service. They did a great job of spreading awarness and making it educational. I pray that 1 day, everyone in that church that night will eventually have answers to what happened to their missing babies. I pray that no matter how each story turns out that they will all find the closure they all needed so badly. Most of all I pray that they never lose faith in God, faith in each other, and the hope that miracles really can come true.

Summer Moon Utah Wells turned 8 years old two days later on 02/04/2024. Summer went missing at only 5 years old, I do not know if she is still with us or not, and I do not know what she's had to endure for the last 3 years. To an adult, 3 years goes by with a blink of an eye, but to a 5 year old, 3 years is a lifetime. 3 years, 3 years of pain, 3 years of suffering, 3 years of crying because they do not know where their little girl is, or what is happening to her. 3 years of their hearts stopping, and holding their breath everytime they recieve a call from an unknown phone number, the FBI,TBI, local LE, or their private investigators in fear of recieving the worst imaginable news they could possibly ever recieve. 3 years of fighting to hold themselves together every time they're told the remains of a child were located, and they'd receive a call back to let them know if its their daughter. If this isn't enough to kill a paremt, then I have no idea what it is.

My friends are living in an unimaginable hell every single day since Summer was stolen from her home on June 15 2021. On top of living every parents worst nightmare, theyre being attacked by people they once called friends, and thousands of people they dont even know from a horrible place called YouTube. Why? What in the hell would make anyone attack parents that are suffering so much? Why do these people feel they have the right to attack Don and Candus when no one knows what happened to their daughter? Im sorry, but Don and Candus inspire me. Don and Candus still believe good people exist, they still have faith and find strength in our Lord and Savior. Instead of letting all of those terrible humans that attack them daily turn them cold and bitter they pray for them. They pray for everyone whos ever attacked them because theyre good people. They pray for those cold hearted individuals that try to destroy them because thats what God would want them to do.

I only ask this one thing of everyone that ever reads this. Please before you judge, jump to horrible conclusions, or attack parents or family members suffering this kind of tragedy dont do it. Stop, think about how youd feel if you were the people suffering from such a gut wrenching pain, and ask yourselves how would you feel? How would you like it if you had to go through this torture every day, and then still had to deal with so mant horrible people going after you? Stop attacking the parents and families of those who go missing, and pray for them. Pray for those that are missing, pray theyll come home soon unhurt and healthy. Statistics say that after 3 years the chances of Don and Candus ever finding out what happened to their daughter is down to a meer 2%. Those odds are more than enough torture for anyone, dont add to their suffering by being assholes. Instead of being hurtful, just pray for them.

Miracles can and do happen every day. Let's all pray for those miracles and stop causing so much extra unneeded pain. Be safe everyone, keep your loved ones close to you.

#summerwells #Rogersville Tennessee #youtube #truth #family #findsummerwells #1800tbifind #DonWells #CandusBly #JusticeForSummerWells #BenHillRd #social media #BringSummerHome #MissingAndExploitedChildren

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superiorexotic24 · 7 days ago

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The Role of Miami Paint and Body Shops in Maintaining Your Car’s Resale Value

Whether you are looking to upgrade to a newer vehicle or simply want to ensure that your car holds its value, maintaining your car’s exterior is one of the most critical aspects of preserving its resale value. A car’s paint and body condition play a significant role in how potential buyers perceive its value. In a vibrant, coastal city like Miami, the wear and tear that your car’s exterior endures from the sun, salt, and humidity can take a toll on its appearance over time. Fortunately, professional paint and body shops in Miami offer services that can help restore your vehicle’s aesthetics, improve its longevity, and boost its resale value.

In this article, we’ll explore how Miami Paint and Body Shop help maintain your car’s resale value by addressing common climate-related damages, offering paint restoration services, and performing essential repairs. By understanding the role of these professional services, you’ll better appreciate how investing in your car’s appearance can pay off when it’s time to sell or trade it in.

1. First Impressions Matter: The Aesthetic Appeal

When it comes to selling or trading in your vehicle, the first impression is crucial. Potential buyers are drawn to vehicles that look well-maintained, clean, and in excellent condition. The exterior, especially the paint, is one of the first things buyers notice. A car with faded, chipped, or damaged paint is less likely to fetch a good price, as it gives the impression of poor upkeep.

In a sunny and humid city like Miami, where the sun’s UV rays can quickly degrade the paint and cause fading or oxidation, maintaining the car’s finish becomes even more important. Salt air from the coast can also lead to rust and corrosion, further diminishing the vehicle’s visual appeal. Miami-based Miami Paint and Body Shop offer essential services that can rejuvenate a car’s paint job, ensuring it remains attractive and marketable.

How Body Shops Help:

Paint Restoration: If your vehicle’s paint has faded or suffered from oxidation, professional body shops can offer paint correction services. These services involve polishing the surface to remove imperfections, oxidation, and swirl marks, restoring the depth and shine of your car’s original paint.

Resprays and Touch-Ups: If the damage is more extensive, a full respray or touch-up can bring your car back to life. These services are particularly beneficial for older vehicles that may have sustained damage from the harsh Florida weather.

Custom Finishes: If you want to make your vehicle stand out in the resale market, a custom paint job can increase its appeal. Professional body shops can offer custom colors, finishes, or even specialty designs to give your car a unique edge.

These services ensure your vehicle has the visual appeal necessary to attract potential buyers and command a higher resale price.

2. Protecting the Car’s Value with Paint Protection

In addition to the cosmetic aspect, protecting your car’s paint is vital for maintaining its long-term value. Miami’s tropical climate poses challenges for car owners, including UV radiation, humidity, and salt air, which can cause corrosion, fading, and wear. If left unprotected, the vehicle’s exterior can deteriorate over time, making it difficult to restore its original condition.

Professional paint protection services provided by body shops can help shield your vehicle from these elements, preserving its value for years to come.

How Body Shops Help:

Ceramic Coatings: A ceramic coating is a protective layer that bonds with the car’s paint to form a hydrophobic surface, making it resistant to water, dirt, and contaminants. It also provides an additional layer of UV protection, helping to prevent fading and oxidation. A vehicle with a ceramic coating is easier to clean and maintain, which is an appealing feature for prospective buyers.

Paint Protection Film (PPF): PPF is a transparent film that is applied to high-impact areas of the car, such as the front bumper, hood, and side mirrors. This film acts as a shield against rock chips, scratches, and debris, which are common in Miami due to road conditions and frequent storms. By protecting the car from physical damage, PPF helps maintain the exterior’s flawless appearance, which is crucial when it’s time to sell or trade the car.

By investing in these protective services, you’re not only ensuring your car looks great today but also safeguarding its value down the road.

3. Fixing Dents, Dings, and Scratches

Even if your car’s paint is in good condition, it can still accumulate minor damage like dents, dings, and scratches. In a busy city like Miami, where parking spaces are tight and roads are full of debris, these imperfections are almost inevitable. However, visible damage can significantly impact your car’s resale value.

Potential buyers often view any exterior damage as a sign of neglect, and the cost of repairing the damage themselves may cause them to lower their offer. On the other hand, a well-maintained vehicle with a smooth, flawless exterior is more likely to attract a higher price.

How Body Shops Help:

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR): For minor dings and dents, paintless dent repair is a cost-effective and efficient solution. PDR involves using specialized tools to gently push out dents from the back of the panel without disturbing the paint. This method preserves the original paint, saving both time and money.

Scratch and Chip Repair: Small chips and scratches can be easily repaired by professional body shops. Using advanced techniques, technicians can match the paint color and restore the damaged areas, making them nearly invisible. Addressing these imperfections promptly prevents further damage and ensures that your car’s body remains intact.

These services can make a significant difference in your car’s appearance and resale value, allowing you to present a vehicle that looks as close to new as possible.

4. Improving the Vehicle’s Structural Integrity

While the exterior appearance is essential for resale value, the vehicle’s structural integrity also plays a major role. Accidents and collisions can cause significant damage to the frame, panels, and other components of the vehicle. A car that has been involved in a major accident may suffer from alignment issues, poor panel fitment, and structural weaknesses, all of which can lower its resale value.

Miami’s busy streets, frequent thunderstorms, and hurricane season make collisions and damage more likely, further emphasizing the need for professional repairs.

How Body Shops Help:

Frame Alignment and Structural Repairs: A trusted body shop in Miami can perform frame alignment and structural repairs, restoring your car’s structural integrity to pre-accident condition. This ensures that your car is safe to drive and that its structural components align properly, both of which are important factors for prospective buyers.

Collision Repairs: Body shops provide full collision repair services, including replacing damaged panels, repairing structural damage, and ensuring the vehicle is restored to its original factory specifications. This type of repair guarantees that your car is in top condition, improving its marketability and value.

By addressing structural issues, you ensure your car is not only visually appealing but also safe and reliable, which boosts its appeal in the resale market.

5. Increasing Buyer Confidence and Perceived Value

When you’re ready to sell or trade in your car, a vehicle that’s in excellent condition signals to potential buyers that the car has been well taken care of. A clean, shiny exterior with no visible imperfections makes a statement that the car is high-quality and worth the asking price.

A professional Miami Paint and Body Shop helps you achieve this perception by providing services that not only restore your car’s look but also enhance its overall quality. By investing in the right repairs and protective coatings, you signal to buyers that the vehicle is worth its asking price and that it has been properly maintained.

How Body Shops Help:

Detailing Services: A professional body shop can also offer detailing services, including waxing, interior cleaning, and engine bay cleaning. Detailing improves the overall presentation of the vehicle and creates a polished, professional appearance that impresses potential buyers.

Comprehensive Repair Packages: Many body shops offer comprehensive repair packages that address all aspects of a vehicle’s condition, from paint restoration to dent removal. These packages ensure that the car is in top shape when it hits the market, giving it an edge over other vehicles that may have visible damage.

Conclusion

Maintaining your car’s exterior is crucial for preserving its resale value, especially in Miami, where the climate can cause significant wear and tear on your vehicle’s paint and body. Miami’s intense UV rays, salty air, humidity, and frequent rainstorms can all lead to fading, rust, and other types of damage. Fortunately, professional paint and body shops in Miami offer services that can restore your car’s appearance, protect it from further damage, and ultimately increase its resale value.

From paint correction and full resprays to dent repair and protective coatings, investing in these services ensures that your car will look great, last longer, and command a higher price when it’s time to sell. At Superior Exotics Color & Paint, we specialize in high-quality auto body repairs and paint services designed to maintain your vehicle’s value and appearance. Contact us today to learn how we can help you restore your car’s shine and protect its worth for years to come.

#automotive #miami #auto body painting in miami #car #auto #auto body painting #car painting miami #auto painting miami #miami paint and body shop

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